


Leave That Place

by blueskydog



Series: Question Marks [4]
Category: Bones (TV)
Genre: Bittersweet, Friendship, Gen, Goodbyes, Love, Mentors, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 09:38:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15793878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueskydog/pseuds/blueskydog
Summary: If we could see that this was all that we need, inside our minds, bodies, and souls, we wouldn't run and we would let go, cause we'd realize that we had no control.





	Leave That Place

The team, minus two, walked out of the diner—Angela hanging on to Zack’s arm, Hodgins on his other side with a hand on his shoulder, Cam right behind as she sniffed just enough times to be noticed. The city lights cast a dull gleam across the sidewalk. People hustled and bustled by; cars zoomed, honked, screeched. The night moved along, oblivious of the microcosm making its way towards the street corner. They clung to each other both literally and metaphorically (a metaphor—would Zack get it if someone said it out loud?). No one wanted to let go, because letting go would mean an end to this dreamlike evening. The air seemed to move slowly around them. Though nothing seemed more right than the presence of their lost companion, nothing seemed more wrong than seeing him in the dull scrubs with those ugly gloves walking to the place where Booth’s car would soon meet them to take Zack away.

In the much-too-few hours they spent with their illegally free friend, they laughed like they hadn’t in months, relishing the sound of his voice among the familiar clatter of the diner—his favorite place outside the lab (and Hodgins’ house of course). They ate familiar food and sat in familiar chairs, and yet everything was different because Zack was exactly the same as they remembered, but he seemed almost like an entirely new person from the last time they’d all been here together.

But they were so _happy._

They had no right to be happy. Zack had conspired with a horrendous string of murders lead by a vile killer; he’d murdered a man himself. He’d escaped the place Caroline had managed to put him in to keep him safe.

Somehow, miraculously, he’d made it out with no one noticing. He was a genius—he could have escaped at any time. But only when it made sense. Only when he knew he could help. Only when he knew he could see them again.

He so innocently wanted them to be happy. And for some of them this was the happiest they’d felt since the day they watched him disappear into the car that took him away, the horror of the situation still lingering in his wake.

Booth’s van pulled up beside them and with it a crushing sense of reality. They’d all known it couldn’t last forever, as much as their smiles and laughs and hugs begged it to.

Angela tried not to cry when she squeezed Zack one more time. She’d have plenty of time for tears later—she didn’t want to dampen the moment for Zack, the only one in this group who would wake up tomorrow with nowhere to go.

Hodgins thumped his fist on Zack’s shoulder, and Zack smiled back, and they both remembered the hundreds of times they shared the gesture that made Zack feel a little more human.

Cam gave him a quick hug, not without a reminder that she still disapproved of his escape, but making sure he also knew how glad she was to see him in spite of everything.

Brennan stepped out of the van and stood next to her former charge. She looked around at the others, and they could see surprise and disappointment on her face.

“I thought you’d still be inside,” she said.

“We were going to wait for you,” Angela said. “But—”

“But I told them I should go,” Zack said. “I don’t want anyone to get in trouble. If you’re seen with me, people will think it’s your fault I got out.”

“I’m sure we’ve all done worse things,” Brennan said, hoping it was true for at least one of them.

“The case is solved,” Zack said. “There’s no reason for me to stay.”

A million reasons jumped into everyone’s minds, but a stern look from Booth as he emerged from behind the van prevented them from coming out.

“Oh.” Brennan looked from face to face as if unsure who to focus on at the moment. Cam decided to help.

“We’ll let you two say goodbye.” She gently herded Angela back towards her car. Hodgins gave Zack one last nod before following them. Booth glanced at the remaining pair, who were finally looking into each other’s faces.

“I’ll warm up the van.” The van didn’t need warming up. Booth walked back to the other side and into the driver’s seat.

Brennan stepped closer to Zack. So many years lingered between them.

“Goodbye, Dr. Brennan,” Zack said.

She pulled him into a hug. He awkwardly hugged her back, careful of his hands—hands so used to working, holding, piecing together. She focused on the feeling of his presence, because who knew when she would be able to see him again.

“We don’t want you to go, Zack.”

“I have to go.” He made no effort to step away from her embrace.

“I know,” she whispered, “I know. But I want you to understand how much this hurts us.”

“I’m sorry.” His voice hinted at tears.

“It’s because we love you, Zack.”

“I can understand how difficult it must be to love someone who has disappointed you to such an extent.”

Brennan ignored the implication that Zack did not believe her sentiment. She pulled away to hold him in front of her and her eyes fiercely met his gaze. “Then you understand just how much effort we put into loving you.”

He looked away from her the way he did when his mind was working on a seemingly incomprehensible problem.

“I know it doesn’t seem logical,” she said. “And maybe it isn’t. Maybe it defies all reason. But if you remember one thing for the remainder of our existence, it has to be that every one of us loves you, and that’s never going away.”

He took a shaky breath and turned to her. His mouth opened and closed minutely, his shoulders lifted and his eyes were bright as he tried to convey what his peculiar brain was unable to express.

“And we know you love us too.” She pulled him in again, tightly.

“Bones.” Booth must have been leaning very far to reach his head out the passenger side window. “He needs to get back.”

She cleared her throat and pulled away from Zack, hands lingering on his elbows.

“I have an excellent memory,” he said.

Brennan let out a laugh, sticky with unshed tears. “The best.”

“Like an elephant.” A smile ghosted over his face. “That was a simile.”

She had no words left, only so many unspoken memories. She looked at his face one last time before acknowledging the click and grunt of Booth opening the van’s side door from the inside.

She still saw Zack’s face sometimes in the back of her mind; at the end of a difficult case when she could have used his help, or when an intern made a particularly brilliant discovery, or when she walked into the bone room and still expected to see the messy hair and focused eyes she was so used to seeing.

“Goodbye, Zack,” she said.

He nodded and climbed into the van.

**Author's Note:**

> Because it's not fair we didn't get to see Brennan say goodbye to Zack.  
> (Title and summary come from the lyrics to "Set Free" by Katie Gray)


End file.
